Anne Leary, a blogger unknown to me before today, has hit her 15 minutes of fame with her post today about spotting Bill Ayers at D.C.’s Reagan International Airport and — after bravely approaching him despite the possibility that the “unrepentant domestic terrorist” might have a bomb hidden in his pocket — obtaining from him the startling, unsolicited admission that he did, indeed, ghostwrite Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father (emphasis is mine):
I asked–what are you doing in D.C. Mr. Ayers?
For a moment I thought he might be on my flight back to Chicago. Charming. Initially I guess he thought I was laying claim to his coffee or something. He gave me an uneasy cheesy smile when he realized I was taking his picture. I asked him if he was speaking at GW? (Only I said GFW, guess I had the VFW on my mind) He said oh you mean GW, he said no…was trying to decide if I was a fan, then said he was giving a lecture in Arlington to a Renaissance group on education–that’s what I do, education–you shouldn’t believe everything you hear about me, you know nothing about me. I said, I know plenty–I’m from Chicago, a conservative blogger, and I’ll post this. (Oh, yeah, Bill Ayers, quite the Renaissance man, nail-bomber extraordinaire. Gee, I see another friend of Barack, U.S. Sec. of Education Arne Duncan was there too. “The conference theme is “A Time for Reflection, Celebration and Rebirth.” How touching. At best, useless, at worst, so wrong.)
Then, unprompted he said–I wrote Dreams From My Father. I said, oh, so you admit it. He said–Michelle asked me to. I looked at him. He seemed eager. He’s about my height, short. He went on to say–and if you can prove it, we can split the royalties. So I said, stop pulling my leg. Horrible thought. But he came again–I really wrote it, the wording was similar. I said I believe you probably heavily edited it. He said–I wrote it. I said–why would I believe you, you’re a liar.
He had no answer to that. Just looked at me. Then he turned and walked off, and said again his bit about my proving it and splitting the proceeds.
But the question remains–is Barack Obama a fraud? Is his myth-making creation and only major accomplishment a product of Bill Ayers’ imagination? (or his own) Is our President Barack Obama’s biography written by an unrepentant domestic terrorist?
Ms. Leary has James Simpson’s (DC Independent Examiner) open-mouthed admiration (my emphasis on the laugh out loud lines):
I interviewed Anne this morning about it.
Ayers was in Washington, he told her, for a conference on education.
“That’s what I do, education,” he said. “You shouldn’t believe everything you hear about me… You know nothing about me.”
To which she responded, “I said, I know plenty–I’m from Chicago, a conservative blogger, and I’ll post this.”
I bet his heart skipped a beat on that one.
But he didn’t scowl, and didn’t run off as he has been known to do. Instead, unprompted, he blurted out: “I wrote ‘Dreams From My Father… Michelle asked me to.” Then he added “And if you can prove it we can split the royalties.”
Anne responded, “Stop pulling my leg!”
But he repeated insistently, “I wrote it, the wording was similar [to Ayers’ other writing.]”
Anne responded, “I believe you probably heavily edited it.”
Ayers stated firmly, “I wrote it.”
Anne ended the conversation by saying “why would I believe you? You’re a liar.”
Good for her. But we are left to wonder. Despite her parting shot, Anne was convinced Ayers was in earnest. He was making a public statement. He wanted this news out there.
William A. Jacobson solemnly wonders if Ayers was just “causing some trouble with a tall tale” or if he was “telling the truth to a stranger to get it off his chest?” He doesn’t know, but he hopes the press will get on this important story right away:
Will Obama issue a denial of Ayers’ accusation? Will the usually compliant press ask a real question for once? Probably neither, which is too bad.
I think we are entitled to know whose Dream it was, since we are living the nightmare now.
And then the Update: Ayers was just “messing with everyone“!
The issue is now definitively resolved because Bill Ayers e-mailed someone:
I e-mailed Ayers to see if he could shed any light on the story. His response: “You’ve all lost your minds,” he wrote. “Best of luck in the twilight zone.
Seems to me, Ayers is messing with everyone. Who is he accusing of “having lost” their “mind”? The person who e-mailed him, or the persons to whom he has made the accusation? One person (at least) knows for sure, but he’s not talking.
No, William A. Jacobson, not “everyone.” Just the terminally gullible and incurably humorless.
By the way, that “someone” Bill Ayers e-mailed is Benjamin Sarlin at The Daily Beast — and actually Ayers was responding to Sarlin’s e-mail asking him about Leary’s blog post and the ensuing brouhaha:
Let’s put this one to bed right now.
Far right sites have been spreading a post around today by blogger Anne Leary, who wrote that she ran into Obama acquaintance and 2008 election albatross Bill Ayers at an airport. Leary writes how Ayers, unprompted, unleashed a long-winded confession confirming one of the more absurd conspiracy theories floating around the fringes: that Ayers secretly authored Obama’s bestselling memoir, Dreams From My Father.”
I e-mailed Ayers to see if he could shed any light on the story. His response:
“You’ve all lost your minds,” he wrote. “Best of luck in the twilight zone.”
Sarlin adds that Ayers “has a long history of deadpan responses along the lines of the one [Leary] described,” and points to this article by David Weigel at The Washington Independent.
Ayers is messing with conservatives. People he’s duped so far: Jonah Goldberg, his mother Lucianne Goldberg, Tom Maguire, Dennis Byrne, Carol Platt Lieblau, and a bunch of other conservatives, some of whom try to split the difference by suggesting that Ayers is revealing a little bit of truth behind the sarcasm. How embarrassing.
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